Farm-global technologies

PROBLEM:

•             We strongly believe that ICT coupled with agriculture will play a critical role in the future of our global food system. But in Nigeria, we have not developed enough practical solutions with strong value propositions for farmers. Existing & aspiring Farmers are getting frustrated daily or skeptical due to lack of quality information and access to the right technologies, Inadequate extension agents, lack of access to finance, bad farming management practices, amongst others.

•             Young aspiring farmers (youths) lack the right skill to launch successful agribusiness and this brought about a declining interest of youth in agriculture & agribusiness.

OUR SOLUTION:

We create solutions to existing farmers and young aspiring farmers through these 3 phases:

(1) a progressive web portal, www.farmglobaltech.com (already developed) and mobile app (in view)

(2) Online/Offline Digital trainings and on-farm demonstrations through our extension agents.

(3) Toll-free Novel customer care

Farmers lack the right information and technological tools to enable them achieve sustainable productivity and maximum returns; all these has led to great losses in the past, low productivity from their farm products and low income. With increasing population, food security has become a critical issue in Nigeria. Therefore, agricultural productivity needs to be strengthened radically to increase food availability. 

• A recent research from African Development Bank shows out of 13 million youths that enter the labour market each year in Nigeria, only 3 million are in wage employment, while the rest are underemployed or in vulnerable employment. We intend to reach at least 5% of the yearly 10 million unemployed youth in Nigeria within 5 years.
• In addition, unemployment in Nigeria is a major problem both economically & socially. Economic growth is not the only solution to curb unemployment in Nigeria but other solutions such as offering the right skills to the people to help them tackle the problems. The annual gap of more than 8 million jobs is going to worsen, with the number of youths expected to double to more than 800 million in the next decades; this calls for an urgent solution.

Farm-Global technologies, is a subsidiary of Darbot tech hub and Nigeria's one-stop Agricultural / Agribusiness portal to connect producers, existing farmers, young aspiring farmers, actors, players and all Agricultural stakeholders to agricultural resources, information and opportunities by making use of sound cutting-edge technologies to bring about maximum agricultural yield.

OUR SOLUTION:

We create solutions to existing farmers and young aspiring farmers through these 3 phases:

(1) a progressive web portal, www.farmglobaltech.com (already developed) and mobile app (in view)

(2) Online/Offline Digital trainings and on-farm demonstrations through our extension agents.

(3) Toll free Novel customer care system (in progress)

On our portal, users have a personalized and customized dashboard experience which gives them access to first hand quality information, farm monitoring system by registering their animals and crops on a calendar which in turn gives automated dated daily notifications for vaccination, drugs administration, feeding regime, fertilizer application, etc.

Also, users can receive daily weather forecasts, current market data, video tutorials, 24/7 customer care service, farmers' marketplace, offline training, access to funding from investors plus a pool of agricultural library.

We provide the technology, platform and connect users with all partners in the agricultural value chain system.This will enhance smart decision-making processes.

TARGET MARKET & SIZE

•             Over 300,000 farmers in the South west Nigeria. We will reach at least 50% of this population by 2025.

•              We intend to increase the economical capabilities of over 1,000,000 unemployed youths by year 2025.

 POSITIVE IMPACT

With increasing population, food security has become a critical issue in Nigeria. Therefore, agricultural productivity needs to be strengthened radically to increase food availability. Our platform will equip existing farmers & young aspiring Agropreneurs with key information & knowledge that can help them to launch successful agribusinesses.

 We work with different budding farms by providing on-farm support through on-farm demonstrations and training. We provide them market linkages on our portal’s marketplace which eradicates the burden that comes with middle-men.

 Respective stakeholders, institutions and agencies in the Nigerian agricultural sector: We provide research and development, increased customer awareness, increased investments by leading manufacturers, etc.

 Our solution;

•             will keep the youths engaged positively while increasing their livelihood and income

•             will reduce crime rate drastically

•             unemployed youths will be gainfully employed thus, contributing positively to the employment index in Nigeria

•             will contribute to national growth and the GDP of Nigeria

We work with different budding farms by providing on-farm support through on-farm demonstrations and training. We provide them market linkages on our portal’s marketplace which eradicates the burden that comes with middle-men.

We provide the technological platform and connect users with all partners in the agricultural value chain system. This will enhance smart decision-making processes.

Increased demand, increase in research and development, rapid urbanization, industrialization, increased customer awareness, increased investments by leading manufacturers, technological advances can be the positive factors that have an impact on the Smart Agriculture/Farming industry.

There is yet to be an encompassing scheme that develop a sustainable Agricultural Value-chain system in Nigeria and Africa at large. We will fill up this lacuna by through (information delivery, training and timely responsive customer care system) on both our web and mobile platforms, thereby, making us first of its kind in Nigeria.

• Qualitative: Our platform will be easy & cheap to use (i.e. does not necessarily require call credit or internet access to use), Multi-lingual system, good overall customer experience and outcome
• We intend to incorporate AI solution to improve interactivity on our portal. This will enable users gather more data regarding their crops and animals, including how they respond to nutrition, generate information to feed the animal precisely, etc. This will improve feed conversion ratio.

All these above give us an edge over all our competitors

Our portal is a progressive web app built with React (frontend) and Node (backend) technology. Our users have a personalized and customized dashboard experience which gives them access to first hand quality information, farm monitoring system by registering their animals and crops on a calendar which in turn gives automated dated daily notifications for vaccination, drugs administration, feeding regime, fertilizer application, etc.

Also, users can receive daily weather forecasts, current market data (Data Analytics), video tutorials, 24/7 customer care service, farmers' marketplace, offline training, access to funding from investors plus a pool of agricultural library.

We intend to incorporate AI and IoT later on as we progress.

We provide the technology, platform and connect users with all partners in the agricultural value chain system. This will enhance smart decision-making processes.

We work with different budding farms by providing on-farm support through on-farm demonstrations and training. We provide them market linkages on our portal’s marketplace which eradicates the burden that comes with middle-men. 

The MVP is already established which is the progressive web app www.farmglobaltech.com

Although the Portal Is A Work In Progress.. Not All Features Listed Above Are Functional Yet. You Might Be Experiencing Some Little Hitches On The Site. The aim of this application is to get funding in order to fully implement all the site's features.

Please, check Our demo video here: 

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We now have over 1000 registered users with over 4000 daily visits. Trained over 3000 youth in the past both online and offline

• In the next one year: There are over 300,000 farmers in the South west Nigeria. We will reach at least 5% of this population 
• We intend to reach at least 5% of the yearly 10 million unemployed youths in Nigeria within 5 years.

Our Objectives

A) To stimulate the interest of youths and women in ICT/Agriculture and increase the economical capabilities of over 1,000,000 youths within the next 5 years.

B) To provide existing farmers continuously with quality agricultural information such as input supply, service delivery, finance, output & processing, markets and customer care through a well-developed value-chain system.

C) To improve access to Agricultural Extension Service and Research Innovations.

D) To continuously create an enabling cozy Co-working hub for young entrepreneurs to share ideas and implement their ideas into fruition.

Our major aim as a company is to develop a portal that will achieve it’s set goals within a limited short of time. 

• Our goal is to have a company that will have an annual recurring revenue of at least $1m by year 2025;
• Also, we intend to reach at least 5% of the yearly 10 million unemployed youth in Nigeria within 5 years;
• Over 300,000 farmers in the South west Nigeria. We will reach at least 50% of this population by 2025.

MARKETING STRATEGY

• We use various online channels (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram) & social media sponsored posts and ads
• One-on-one oral advert, Free trainings
• Targeted Email lists, WhatsApp Marketing, Flyers & referral discounts.
• Using social media influencers to advertise our company
• We have developed an Inventory management software and Accounting monitoring software for tracking inventory levels, orders, deliveries, sales, revenue and profit calculations.

 1. Licensing risks

Privacy leakage, technology licensing services, use of intellectual property, billing, client indemnity, government inconsistency, etc.

2. Physical risks

 Inadequate power supply, system crash, etc.

3. Farm constraints

 Geographically, farmers are dispersed and unorganized. Farmers are scared to adopt new technology.

4. High marketing costs

 High cost of running print advert on billboards, fliers, posters, etc., still persists. This has also lead to increase in paper, office equipment, printer toner, fuel, etc.,

1. A standby generator and a backup system is available to prevent data loss. Our business operates in an area with 33KVA PHCN power line, thus, there is 24/7 power supply.
2. We intend to implement the same policies that have been proven by bigger companies in our line of industry. We will use state-of-the-art security measures to protect information and there shall be a legal binding effect among parties. 
3. We have been using majorly online marketing as an alternative cheaper source of marketing. We will try has much as possible to procure consumables in bulk at very cheap cost and of good quality too.
4. Farmers will be well trained on the evolving technology by our professionals. They will be grouped into different farming clusters for easy access.

The parent company is known as Darbot one-stop technology hub, www.farmglobaltech.com, a registered ICT-based company (BN2453008) in Nigeria that provides B2B/B2C technological solutions to SMEs and individuals with initiatives on youth engagements & capacity building for positive economical capabilities in Nigeria. Darbot has been in existence since October 2016.

Farm-global is a subsidiary/product of Darbot

Full time staff: 4

Part-time/remote staff: 6

Management team: 5

Our team have numerous experiences in the Agriculture and ICT industry coupled with their academic achievements which have prepared them adequately for a challenging task in the Agricultural industry. Thus, they would explore pragmatic solutions being undertaken across the world to address emerging challenges that comes with Agriculture in Nigeria.

1) Adedare OSUNSANYA, the CEO is a multiple award-winning entrepreneur who has over 8 years of experience in modern Digital skills and as an Agribusiness Value Chain Expert. A fellow of the Tony Elumelu Foundation; to his credit, he bagged a degree of B.Agric. from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria (2013). He is a Graduate Animal Scientist (GAS) of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS). A member of the Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN) and International Forum for Youths in Agriculture (IFYA). He oversees all the operations, designs and human resources management of Darbot. 

1) Mary ADEOBA, the Lead Strategist has over 3 years of experience as a young Agripreneur focusing on providing value–added agricultural services for both Tertiary and secondary students.

2) Wilson Temitope AYODEJI. Business Development Manager, is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University with a degree in Geography, who is intrinsically motivated and result-oriented when it comes to managerial and business growth.

3) Samuel OWOLABI, Chief Technology Officer (C.T.O)

He has over 4 years of experience as a seasoned web/mobile app backend developer with advanced skills In Node JS, GOLANG, MYSQL,NOSQL, Java, C++, PYTHON.

• In 2019, we gained international recognition and support by winning the Tony Elumelu Foundation $5000 grant to support our idea, thus, becoming a fellow of the organization. 
• United Bank of Africa (UBA): Our financial institution
• MOU Agro: They provide agromedia news for us
• Agricultural organizations such as (International International
  Association of Students in Agriculture & Related Sciences (IAAS), Nigeria chapter): We provide digital/agribusiness trainings for their members.
• We work with different budding farms by providing on-farm support through on-farm demonstrations and training. We provide them market linkages on our portal’s marketplace which eradicates the burden that comes with middle-men.

1) MOBILE & WEB APPLICATION: Information on specific crops/livestock can be requested through a mobile app/SMSes or web portal by registering on our agricultural portal’s calendar. This will help farmers to monitor activities on their farms.  Information will be provided on best farming practices, input and output delivery, health, available markets, weather forecast, farming techniques, etc.  The use of a smartphone is not necessarily needed as a short code subscription service will also be rendered e.g *847#. 

•           The web based app will consist of an Online Database Management System with unlimited pages and forms, tutorials (books, audios and videos)

2) MARKETS AND DATA ANALYTICS: We would implement tools and algorithm for basic data descriptive analysis i.e. Age analysis (as in age range per locality), charts showing population, occupation, challenges faced, solutions offered, etc.  Improve transparency and profitability through data collection management and analytics. Granting users access to the analyzed data for a fee. Use survey data and reports to drive decision-making process.

3) ECOMMERCE MARKETPLACE / INVESTMENT PLATFORM: Our platform will provide an online Ecommerce marketplace for both existing and aspiring farmers to sell and buy agricultural products & inputs. 

4) AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE: Specific farmers will be trained through our extension agents to share their knowledge at their community level. This will complement extension services by the government and in-person training for farmers.

5) AFFORDABLE DIGITAL HUB/ICT TRAININGS: We have an enabling cozy Co-working hub for young entrepreneurs to share ideas and implement their ideas into fruition. 

Our goal is to have a company that will have an annual recurring revenue of at least 1 million dollars by year 2025. This is possible if all the features on our portal are fully implemented, have the right equipment and expansion plan with the right marketing strategies. Thus, the reason for this application in order to gain financial support to aid our project. Our aim as a company is to develop a business that will achieve it’s set goals within a limited short of time. The only way this can be achieved is consistency and great improvement on our team and support from your organization in form of grant and connection with individuals/organizations for working partnerships.

- Our partnership with the Agricultural organizations will increase the quantity and quality of agricultural products and services available to farmers.

- Our partnership will focused on facilitating community development among the rural, urban and aspiring young farmers by connecting them to the right opportunities.

- We will contribute to the rehabilitation of agricultural markets by increasing the flow of information and number of competitive actors participating in these markets.

1. Agricultural organizations such as The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Nigeria, The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Nigeria, Fadama, Nourishing Africa and other similar organizations.

2. International IT companies major in AI and IoT solutions.

3. Agrimedia organizations.

3. State and Federal government agricultural agencies in Nigeria.

- We will provide Agribusiness skills training, and targeted digital assistance to farmers and connect them to these well-established organizations to provide loans, and grants for the farmers.  

- We will complement the efforts of the government agencies in identifying employment opportunities and offer extension services in the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

- The Agrimedia organizations will assist us in communicating our vision, mission and activities effectively to the world.

- The IT companies will assist us with missing advanced technologies in our solution.

All the above will play a transformative role in re-establishing Nigeria’s position as the breadbasket of Africa

We intend to build an AI and IoT solution that will enable users gather more data regarding their crops and animals, including how they respond to nutrition, diseases, generate information to feed the animal precisely, etc. This will improve feed conversion ratio. 

We would implement tools and algorithm for basic data descriptive analysis i.e. Age analysis (as in age range per locality), charts showing population, occupation, challenges faced, solutions offered, etc. Implement tools for inferential analysis i.e regression and correlation, e.t.c. Improve transparency and profitability through data collection management and analytics when users interact with our web app.